CHICAGO – Jake Ludwig led four Lakers in double figures with a game-high 24 points, and the Roosevelt men's basketball team rallied back from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat a strong Marian (Ind.) squad by a final of 70-65 inside the Goodman Center on Sunday.
Ludwig scored 18 of his 24 in the second half, while Joshua Dillingham double-dipped with 10 points and a game-best 16 rebounds for the Lakers, who remained unbeaten at 2-0.
Carson Hughes connected on four of his six three-point attempts for 13 points off the bench, while fellow reserve Kyle Bumbalough tacked on 11 points during an efficient 5-for-6 afternoon from the field.
Wes Stowers led the Knights (1-1) with 23 points.
Roosevelt faced a 13-point deficit at halftime after Marian, which led most of the opening period, finished the stanza on a 6-0 run.
The Knights pushed their lead to 15 early in the second and maintained a double-digit advantage five minutes into the half when the Lakers scored nine unanswered points to get within four.
Eventually Roosevelt would take its first lead since the early moments of the game during the midway point of the second half, and the Lakers started to create distance after back-to-back treys off the fingertips of Hughes.
Roosevelt went ahead by eight late, but the Knights wouldn't go away and eventually made it a one-possession affair on a couple of occasions during the game's final 25 seconds, but Ludwig answered at the free throw line each time to keep the Lakers ahead until the final horn.
"This was a great win over a very talented team from one of the best conferences in the country," Roosevelt head coach Joe Griffin said of Sunday's Crossroads League foe. "They are going to win a lot of games this year.
"We really cranked up the defense and the toughness in the second half, and that was the name of the game," Griffin said. "We got great game management from Ludwig and Josh brought a senior urgency that the team fed off. We also got great contributions off the bench. Holding them to 30 percent shooting in the second half was great defense.
"We have a quick turnaround versus a talented and dangerous IUNW team with a chance to go 3-0 during the season."
Roosevelt hosts Indiana Northwest in the first men's/women's doubleheader of the year at the Goodman Center. The women's game between Roosevelt and IU Northwest starts at 5 p.m., followed by the men's game at approximately 7 p.m.
